Great as it was the dimmed downlight for resting and watching whatever was showing on the flat screen television, Arman hated them when it's time to read, the light casting long, dark shadows on the pages. Anything thicker than a small novella was a definite frustrating attempt to find a readable angle. He hadn't touched the pills prescribed to him by the visiting specialist, told her he feel all fine and awesome, and would like to leave the place, thank you very much for everything, and she just smiled at him.
What was it the two burly men in sunglasses, holding the Ministry of Internal Security identity cards, had said?
"Please come with us and help locate the young woman you were with."
Or something to that effect when they had dropped by at Aunt Maisara's house two days before.
He asked if they meant Ain, the young woman who came in the morning with the most incredible story; one which somehow believable to explain his loss of memories. Said they didn't know her name. Their demeanor nonetheless convinced him to join in their bone-jarring mini four-wheeler. Promised Aunt Maisara he'd be back in a jiffy. That was before meeting one Datuk Samuel Chan.
"We've detected some abnormalities in your brain wave. Like those recorded from our team sent to the hospital you were working at," he had told Arman.
Arman noted the word "were" used by the lean and fit looking elderly man who met him after the specialist.
"Abnormalities?"
"You have intermittent blank spots in your memories."
"Blank spots? Accounting for memory lapses?"
"Perhaps. They do bear strong resemblance with two of our team members."
"You mean, Ain?"
"I believe that is the name you identify her with. It's not her real name, though."
Arman had waited for him to drop a name, but it never came.
This old man's not going to share any information on Ain.
"I know. She told us she had no memory of who she was and how she ended up at the hospital," he answered.
"You're in dangerous territory, young man. What you did was wrong."
"What exactly did I do? The last thing I remember was waking up at my auntie's house with a splitting headache. I'm hundreds of miles from work with no recollection of how I even got there. You tell me what wrong I did?!"
The older man stared at him throughout the rant then stood up and walked over to the wall with the oil painting of a seaside hotel, a cliff rising in the background, the clouds temperamentally angry.
"You don't remember taking Ain away from the hospital?"
"No."
"Your stopping at a roadside restaurant midway to Kuala Selangor? A trailer crashing it. You don't remember any of these?"
"I already told you. I remember nothing!"
"And Ain? Where is she now?"
"She left before noon. Said she was going to head to Cyberjaya to see if anyone could help her. Why didn't you pick her up instead of me? Would've been the more direct solution to your problems, wouldn't it?"
"Unfortunately, she slipped unnoticed past the two men we assigned to trail the both of you. You've met them. Such slackness in duty."
Arman grinned at the elderly man standing, his back facing him.
"I say good for her then. Otherwise she'd be locked up in here like me, wouldn't she?"
Samuel turned and took a seat in front of Arman.
"Encik Arman. We do apologize for having to keep you here. I assure you this is purely a temporary measure, partly to ensure your own safety…."
"Your types always say that..."
"I wasn't finished. Please let me continue. As I was saying, we are concerned of your safety in two important ways. One, the woman you helped escape was exposed to unknown elements which put all of them into a coma. She came around when the rest of her colleagues didn't. We don't know how or why. Secondly, there seems to be a litany of destructive events following her escape. All along the routes the two of you took. Coincidence? I think not."
It was Arman turn to keep mum, his mind recalling Ain's story to him and Aunt Maisara, his intuitions telling him to keep on playing dumb.
"How long more do I have to stay here?" he asked, looking at Samuel.
"At most another day. We are waiting for a deeper analysis of your results to compare with what we have. You're free to go after that."
"And if I want to leave now? Can you stop me?"
"We could invoke legal provisions, but that would require strict protocols and procedures to be put in place. I am appealing to you as someone who obviously cares. Please stay a bit longer. Your results may help us find out what happened to my team."
Arman had pondered on the request for a moment before saying yes, thinking about his own memory gaps and curious at what exactly had happened.
Alone for hours since and on a diet of endless music through a set of headphones, he swore he heard a "Hi Arman" in one of the trailing songs and realized she had somehow planted the message with the crazy mind reading ability of hers.
On the television, Arman caught the trailing headline of a gas explosion which destroyed a house in Kampung Permatang, Kuala Selangor, killing three and leaving two survivors, and his thoughts immediately going to Ain.
I hope she's okay, wherever she might be.